New Academic Year
Message from Professor Lorna Milne, Vice-Principal (Proctor)
The University has been planning the redesign of the Academic Year for some time, while we consulted widely among staff, students and managers. In September 2012, this major reform will at last become reality. Preparing for it is a big operation, and we are grateful to everyone involved for their help.
The most important aim behind the changes was to do away with January examinations, which were deeply unpopular with students. Many complained that revision work ruined the Christmas vacation; but more importantly, attendance at exams required expensive return journeys to St Andrews, sometimes from far corners of the earth and at a time of year when the weather is at its least obliging. This huge amount of travelling was environmentally unfriendly too, producing a vast collective carbon footprint.
In future, students will be free in January to prepare reading for Semester 2. For students who support themselves financially, that month will also be an opportunity to take short-term jobs wherever possible, to ease the pressure of part-time work on top of full-time study during termtime. Our increasing numbers of one-semester Study Abroad students will find the new timetable much easier to negotiate. These are undoubtedly very positive developments.
Other aspects of the new academic year are going to be interesting and perhaps challenging –we won’t know exactly how they will work out until we’ve experienced them at least once.
On the academic front, for example, Semester 1 is going to be more compressed than before, with no Reading Week and only one week for exam revision instead of a whole Christmas vacation. We shall all have to be extremely well prepared for the start of the semester, so that we can cope with its intensity as it flies past. By contrast, Semester 2 will feel rather more relaxed, with a Spring vacation in the middle and two weeks for revision before the exams. Although unequal, both experiences will be valuable training for students: after all, life and employment don’t ration out obligations or deadlines at a measured and equal pace, and learning to work in different ways should enhance the versatility that employers already prize in our best graduates.
Outside the classroom, students will have the chance to develop even better time management skills to accommodate the rich variety of their extra-mural activities, especially in Semester 1, while staff will adjust to a new annual rhythm. For academics, January will now be available for research as well as marking and preparation for Semester 2, while some non-academic colleagues will take holiday at that time, given the greatly reduced requirement for residences and other services. The town, too, will have a different – much quieter! – atmosphere at the start of the calendar year, with implications for landlords, merchants and transport, amongst others.
The University is acutely conscious of the impact all this will have on those who live, work and study in St Andrews. We are doing our best to communicate clearly with all those likely to be affected. The web links from this page provide summary information about new dates and consequent reforms, and they will be updated as further details become available.
March 2012